Padma Lakshmi’s New Memoir Speaks about Salman Rushdie and their Marriage

Marriage.comMarch 17th, 2016

Former model turned top chef host Padma Lakshmi revealed the dark side of her ex Salman Rushdie in her new memoir ‘Love, Loss and What We Ate’. New York Daily News reported that she considers her marriage with the writer as “a ounce of beautiful meal that ultimately left her mood poisoning.”

Lakshmi addressed details about her marriage with the novelist, who she said once denounced her as ‘bad investment’ after rejecting his sexual needs. According to her, Rushdie was marred with jealousy and insecurity. The author, according to the book needed consoling every time he did not win Nobel Prize for literature.

The two met in 1999 when Lakshmi was 28, a struggling model and Rushdie was 51 and married to his third wife. Both got married in 2004 and divorced three years later.

Rushdie was jealous and heartless, says Padma

After getting divorced with his second wife, Rushdie and Lakshmi moved together in 2000 and their early years she says were blissful and full of passion. And then it wasn’t. The book spoke about how each year the Nobel Prize went to another writer and Lakshmi would console him. She also revealed how Rushdie became insensitive to Lakshmi’s medical condition that made intercourse painful for her.

Lakshmi said that as her career in the food world grew, so did his resentment when she could not be by his side. “I just wanted to also do something else on my own,” she said. “I just wanted my own identity.” She also mentioned that her professional success made him jealous.

Meanwhile, Lakshmi developed endometriosis, an extremely painful condition in which a woman’s uterine lining cannot be expelled during her period. Her condition was undiagnosed at that time. Whenever she refused to have sex, he would say, “How convenient”.

When she returned after the surgery, Rushdie already left for some work trip and said, “The show must go on, after all”, instead of taking care of her.

Padma Lakshmi’s struggle

After Salman’s marriage ended with Padma, he was in a relationship with American actor Pia Glenn. Sadly, that relationship also did not last and Glenn said that Rushdie was “cowardly, dysfunctional and immature”.

Despite their split, Rushdie and Padma are now friends. For Padma, it is hard to explain about the wonderful time she had with Rushdie. She said she still loved him and her love for him can never be erased.